WestJet pilots’ expectations ‘fairly high,’ CEO says as strike deadline nears | 24CA News
WestJet’s CEO on Wednesday referred to as the wage calls for of the pilots’ union unreasonable and stated a “substantial” hole stays between the 2 sides, because the airline prepares for a looming strike with no indicators of a deal.
Speaking to Global News from a lodge north of Toronto the place bargaining is going down, Alexis von Hoensbroech referred to as WestJet’s most up-to-date provide to the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) “very reasonable but also very generous,” but added the 2 sides stay far aside because the early Friday deadline to avert a strike inches nearer.
“The pilots’ expectations are fairly high,” he stated.
“The gap (between the two sides) is still substantial, but … we have to find the resolution that makes sense for both parties and not just one.”
More than 1,800 pilots at WestJet and its Swoop subsidiary are poised to stroll off the job as of 5 a.m. Eastern on Friday after the union issued a strike discover Monday night time. No replace was given Wednesday on the standing of the continuing talks.
A strike would see flight cancellations and delays throughout WestJet’s community, placing hundreds of travellers in limbo as they look forward to a deal to be made.
The CEO’s feedback come after Global News obtained a memo despatched to pilots by John Aaron, WestJet’s vice-president of flight operations, hours after ALPA issued their 72-hour strike discover Monday night.
In the memo, Aaron stated the airline’s newest provide — which expired after the strike discover was issued — would have raised salaries to “around” $300,000 for a narrowbody plane captain and $350,000 for a widebody plane captain, earlier than additional time and different stipends.
Aaron stated these wages would have made narrowbody captains and first officers, which make up most of WestJet’s pilots, the highest-paid in Canada.
But Tim Perry, ALPA’s nationwide president, advised Global News in an interview Tuesday night the figures don’t characterize what all WestJet pilots would earn, including there’s “a wide range” of each pilot salaries and what the airline was providing.
“We have members that are first officers and captains of all levels of seniority that fly all different types of airplanes,” he stated. “And (the memo) certainly doesn’t paint the picture of all the members that we are trying to represent here.”
ALPA has stated publicly that flight crews are working at a “steep discount” in comparison with their U.S. counterparts, and are paid 45 per cent of the North American common.
The U.S. Bureau of Labour says the median annual wage for American pilots, first officers and flight engineers was simply over US$200,000 in May 2021.
The union has pointed to the 34 per cent pay hike over 4 years secured in March by Delta Air Lines pilots in March as a precedent they need WestJet to match.
But von Hoensbroech stated it will likely be troublesome for WestJet to shut the U.S.-Canada pay hole, which he stated was because of the totally different U.S. aviation market and the foreign money change fee between the 2 nations. He added the hole has existed for “decades.”
“If you want to close a gap that’s times two, then you can imagine how big the jump may be that will take them to where they would like to get,” he stated. “And that, in this environment where we are, is not a reasonable expectation.”
The CEO additionally took concern with the union’s assertion {that a} WestJet pilot is leaving the airline for higher pay elsewhere each 18 hours on common. ALPA says that works out to 340 pilots who’ve left the provider over the previous 12 months and a half.
Von Hoensbroech stated WestJet’s mainline fleet has employed thrice the variety of pilots who’ve resigned. He acknowledged that its regional section, WestJet Encore, has misplaced loads of staff, however famous that they don’t seem to be half of the present bargaining.
As the May lengthy weekend quick approaches, von Hoensbroech stated he’s dedicated to securing a “reasonable” deal earlier than travellers face disruptions from a strike. But he cautioned prospects to organize for these disruptions anyway.
“If labour action happens, then guest travel will be disrupted,” he stated. “So I can suggest that it is probably a prudent thing to do to think about alternatives and then plan for the worst, (but) let’s hope for the best.”
WestJet has launched a “flexible change and cancel policy” permitting flight plans to be altered or cancelled with out cost, he added.
Regulations entitle passengers to a rebooking inside 48 hours of a cancellation or three-hour-plus delay, in line with the Canadian Transportation Agency.
If the airline can’t meet these obligations, the passenger can go for a refund or alternate journey preparations, freed from cost, on “any airline travelling on a reasonable route from the same airport” — or from a close-by airport, and the provider should “transport you there,” the company web site states.
Low-budget Flair Airlines, a direct Swoop competitor, has added further flights to its Vancouver-Calgary and Vancouver-Edmonton routes in anticipation of WestJet pilots going forward with a strike.
On Wednesday, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra inspired the 2 sides to succeed in a decision, noting Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan and a mediator — Peter Simpson, who heads the federal mediation service — are on the bottom.
“I do not want to put my finger on the scale,” Alghabra advised reporters in Ottawa. “Ultimately the biggest obligation is to make sure that they deliver the service that they sold to customers.”
— with recordsdata from Global News’ Anne Gaviola and The Canadian Press
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
